Directed by Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós • 2022 • Brazil
Starring Joana Darc Furtado, Léa Alves da Silva, Andreia Vieira

An electrifying portrait of Brazil’s fraught contemporary moment that blends documentary with narrative and genre elements, DRY GROUND BURNING reunites filmmakers Joana Pimenta and Adirley Queirós (ONCE THERE WAS BRASILIA) to offer a unique vision of the country’s possible future. Just out of prison, Léa (Léa Alves da Silva) returns home to the Brasilia favela of Sol Nascente and relives her past experiences with her half-sister Chitara (Joana Darc Furtado), the fearless leader of an all-female gang that once stole and refined oil from underground pipes and sold gasoline to a clandestine network of motorcyclists. Living in constant opposition to Jair Bolsonaro’s fiercely authoritarian and militarized government, Chitara’s women claim the streets for themselves as a declaration of radical political resistance on behalf of the incarcerated and the oppressed.